Tag Archives: festival

CHICAGO – For the Manifest Urban Arts Festival, a pre-graduation celebration showcasing the talents of Columbia College Chicago students shortly before they receive their diplomas, Technotrix of Calumet City, IL provided Martin Audio to support the audio needs of three outdoor stages.

Because Columbia College Chicago specializes in arts and media, their commencement exercises in the Chicago Theatre and the outdoor arts festival showcase preceding it are characterized by a wide variety of musical styles, ensembles and performances.

This is the 16th year Technotrix of Calumet City, IL has provided audio, stage and lighting for the graduation festivities, depending on Martin Audio to reproduce the music with the accuracy, audio quality and even coverage demanded by the different events.

Held the day before commencement, the Manifest Urban Arts Festival is a showcase for all graduating students on three stages at various locations near the campus in the downtown Chicago Loop.

The outdoor stages feature jazz orchestras, rock bands, performance arts groups, musical theater, stage combat and more. Each has a Martin Audio PA system run by students who function as FOH and Monitors engineers and stage technicians.

Set up under a tent, the main stage had 5 Martin Audio W8LC enclosures a side with 12 ground-stacked WSX subs; 3 W8C, 2 WS218X and 1 WS18X for side fill and 10 LE12JB stage monitors. Stage 2, also under in a tent, used 2 W8C and 2 WSX subs a side with 6 LE12JB stage monitors. The smallest stage was set up in an outdoor garden area with 2 Martin Audio WT3, 2 WS218X subs and 4 LE12JB stage wedges to keep quality high.

Asked about the results, Technotrix’s Kevin Kiefer said, “We’ve been doing the Manifest event for a number of years with a formula that just keeps getting bigger and more complex over the years as they add more bands, musicians and different types of music. The College is very happy with the sound we provide using our Martin Audio system. In fact, they said this year was the best it’s ever been. We just try to raise the bar every time out.”

The graduation ceremony takes place the next day in the historic 3600-seat capacity Chicago Theatre. Featuring two small stages stacked one on top of the other stage left and right with different ensembles, and a 25-piece jazz orchestra and 20-piece gospel choir set up in the pit, coordinating and reproducing all of the music is challenging, to say the least.

“We were up to just over 100 channels of audio this year with the jazz ensembles, commencement choir and all of the small stages,” Kevin explains. “We’d have singers and a horn section on the upper level and keyboards and rhythm section on the lower level, and they all do a variety of different numbers – a constant challenge in terms of the onstage sound. Fortunately, we had a Martin Audio monitor system to help us stay on top of the mix.

Concluding, Kevin adds “We’ve been using Martin Audio for a long time because it differentiates us from our competitors. Martin Audio speakers have a unique voice that allows us to achieve a better end result in terms of audio quality and coverage. Their speakers are accurate and consistent, which is important for events like the commencement and festival where there are so many different types of bands ranging through every type of program material. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been doing this for 16 years.”

The upcoming Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles (DFFLA) is looking to promote minority performers.
“We tend to lean toward films that have a multi-cultural theme, cast, crew,” Greg Ptacek, the festival’s co-director, told Backstage. “We’re an urban film festival.”
The curtain goes up July 9 with the L.A. premiere of director Giovanni Zelko’s “The Algerian,” an international thriller shot both on location in Middle East and downtown L.A.
The festival, which is held at venues throughout downtown, will screen about 100 films—three quarters of which are shorts of music videos.
“Independent filmmakers used to, as their calling cards, make short films—and they still do, which is why we have four programs of short films—but increasingly a lot of them are making music videos,” Ptacek said. “We’re delighted to be the Los Angeles premiere platform for new videos by Sean Lennon and his band, by The Grammarians, by Pretty Little Demons, Evelyn Evelyn, and a variety of other groups.”
One change on the festival’s horizon: It could start screening TV pilots.
“For the first time this year, Fox [and] Participant Media were

LONDON — Serious Stages reported a five-year deal with Glastonbury Festival to provide all of the stages and custom temporary structures across the annual event. Pictured here are Michael Eavis, the British dairy farmer who founded the festival on his grounds, and Serious Stages’ managing director Steven Corfield.

The contract announcement follows a friendship spanning nearly 40 years with Michael Eavis and Glastonbury Festival; when Serious Stages’ managing director Steven Corfield joined the team of stage builders to help construct the Pyramid Stage in 1981; a stage which has since become synonymous with the festival. Serious Stages was officially established in 1983.

Steven says: “I never would have got involved with staging if it wasn’t for Glastonbury. It was our first ever music festival and although we now supply temporary structures and staging products worldwide, it is still a highlight of our calendar every single year.

“To be entrusted by Michael Eavis and the Glastonbury Festival team once again is a great honor, and we are looking forward to continuing to help shape and bring to life the creative vision which stems from the close-knit Glastonbury family. Drawing a parallel with Emily (and her husband Nick) following in her father’s footsteps, we have our son Max taking up a management role at Serious Stages, so Glastonbury will continue to be steered by and inspire this rising talent. The next five years will see some exciting additions to the site, as we set about creating the next generation of ‘iconic’ Glastonbury landmarks.”

The five year deal will see Serious Stages provide almost 60 structures this year including the four main stages, all indoor stages plus television camera towers, PA towers and structural supports for video screens and viewing platforms across the 900 acre site. This includes the Bullring and The Ribbon Tower.

Mojo Barriers has recently returned from The Netherland’s oldest festival, Pinkpop, where the stage barrier specialist completed the last segment of filming for the Discovery Channel’s ‘How do they do it?’

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Tiësto recently headlined the EDM Copenhagen electronic festival presented by Arive on the terrace of the Stay Apartment Hotel here May 31. Production manager/show designer Christian Byriel worked with LD Christian Vigsø on the project, and they included SGM’s G-Spot to light the headliner.

For this nine-hour event (running from afternoon to midnight), packed with a strong lineup of DJs and live acts, production manager and show designer Christian Byriel from CeeBRIGHTER had some specific venue challenges to overcome. “Though being challenged with large window façades, an unusual location and an outdoor venue from daylight to dusk, I feel I achieved my vision and maintained the aesthetic look required by the customer,” he says. It became apparent to him that the G-Spot was to play a large role in his achievement.

Byriel approached lighting designer Christian Vigsø, with whom he has a close cooperation, and together they set up a shootout with four leading moving head models. It quickly became clear that the G-Spot’s output and performance was second to none even when compared with equivalent discharge lamp-based products.

For his design, Byriel deployed 20 G-Spot LED moving lights to produce a powerful effect, expanding the stage area to embrace the audiences. “All 20 lamps performed beyond comparison and were the perfect choice for this event. The entire production team was deeply impressed with the bright light output and so were the guests,” states Byriel, in appreciation of a fixture sufficiently bright to create a striking impact for this high-class hotel both in daylight as well as darkness.

With barely eight hours to prepare from get-in until show-start, everything needed to be programmed and reliable in operation. “I felt safe knowing that should the weather turn for the worse, I would have no problems as the G-Spot is IP65 rated. This is crucial for this kind of production. There was absolutely no space nor time for makeshift dome solutions, but I did not have to worry about this at all.”

Besides this obvious benefit, the production manager was especially astonished by the fixture’s speed of colour change and its intensity. Also, the G-Spot played a major role in driving down the total power consumption to a minimum. “I will definitely spec the G-Spot units for upcoming events – and for next year’s Arive. We had high expectations for the G-Spot, but it exceeded them in all areas,” he concluded.

Tiësto came on stage at 10pm, giving his audience of 1,800 dedicated fans a two-hour unique intimate experience of trance-electronic breaks … accompanied by the G-Spot lightshow.

For 26 years, Stark Films has been one of South Africa’s leading independent television production companies and skilled resident lighting designer Chris Gardner has recently turned to the efficiency and reliability of the Philips Strand Lighting 250ML Control Console for the studio’s much-needed upgrade.

Stark Films is home to several popular long-running South African drama series such as ‘Generations’ and ‘Binneland’. Highly experienced LD Chris Gardner has worked on Binneland for nine years, alongside numerous other high-profile Stark Films productions. When the time came to upgrade the studio’s lighting control system to match its state-of-the-art complex, Gardner turned to the Philips Strand Lighting 250ML Control Console after receiving rave reviews about the desk from Travis Yeatman, LD for Ultra Music Festival.

“The time came when we desperately needed to upgrade our system,” explains Gardner. “DWR Distribution came to the rescue, with Dave Whitehouse delivering the Strand Lighting 250ML console and installing it before a show started the following morning. It was immediately apparent how super efficient and easy-to-use the Strand Lighting 250ML console is and how simple it would be to create and store Submasters, which was such a relief.”

The incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use Strand Lighting 250ML console provides designers with intelligent fixture control and can control 250 channels for dimmers and 30 automated luminaires for moving lights and LEDs. Looks can be stored as either Submasters for easy access or cues for traditional theatre playback.

“After only five to ten minutes of training we went from full system failure to a full 12 hour uninterrupted day in a busy soap opera studio, thanks to the Strand Lighting 250ML console,” continues Gardner. “We programmed 49 key sets into the system, each with two or three lighting states, with minimal effort or reading. This efficiency was amazing as we had no time for complications or trouble!”

The Philips Strand Lighting 250ML Control Console merges the world of conventional dimmer/channel control using traditional Command Line operation with an easy-to-use interface for attributed fixtures, using a colour LCD screen that has ten soft keys and four attribute encoders. In addition, the console has an intuitive effects engine, 2 DMX ports with 1,024 outputs and Cue Playback with A/B Faders and Load/Go buttons, making it a highly useful and productive tool.

“Our lighting system is pretty straightforward and designed to run efficiently with minimal room for error,” concludes Gardner. “The Strand Lighting 250ML Control Console therefore fits straight in as it’s an extremely reliable and professional desk. Coupled with DWR’s excellent after-sales service we are confident in our purchase decision.”

CHARLESTON, SC — For the 38th annual Spoleto Festival USA, which kicked off here May 23, sound supervisor Lew Mead turned to Masque Sound for an audio package to support the multi-venue celebration, which spans more than two weeks in length. Festival engineer Kate Foretek also spent close to two weeks in the Masque Sound shop, piecing together the various custom equipment packages.

For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills Charleston, South Carolina’s historic theaters, churches and outdoor spaces with performances by renowned and emerging artists and performers in opera, theater and dance, as well as chamber, symphonic, choral and jazz music.

As sound supervisor, Mead is given the incredibly challenging task of piecing together all of the different equipment and staffing needs of the various companies at each venue, to not only provide them all with exactly what they need for their shows but also to allow them the flexibility to coordinate with multiple performers in one space. In order to pull this off, Mead begins his pre-planning as early as November of the previous year and works with an audio staff of 10 engineers during the festival.

“Months before the festival, we compile all of the drawings and requirements for each artist and performer,” says Mead. “I then work with the venues directly to discuss which equipment we can place in each location. Lighting Supervisor Andy Cissna, Special Projects/Carpentry Coordinator Paul Hunter, Director of Production at Spoleto Festival Rhys Williams and I are in constant communication to try to blend all of the different requirements for each venue together so that it works for all parties involved.”

In addition, Festival Engineer Kate Foretek spent two weeks in the Masque Sound shop, piecing together the various custom equipment packages that the festival events required before shipping the packages to Charleston.

“The crew at Masque Sound has been fantastic to work with and incredibly helpful in terms of assisting our team through the engineering and extensive planning that goes into all of the different events,” adds Mead. “Everyone at Masque Sound is very forward-thinking, and they were all quick to anticipate and address our needs. Additionally, the depth of their inventory is great. They are always able to provide us with the exact equipment we are looking for.”

One particular instance in which Masque Sound was able to provide Mead with specific equipment to accommodate a performer’s request occurred during preparations for acclaimed recording artist Lucinda Williams’ performance. “Lucinda Williams requested two DiGiCo SD10 Live Digital consoles for her performance at the TD Arena,” says Mead. “We haven’t used the SD10s in the past, because they’ve been quite a rare commodity in the industry, but Masque Sound stocks them in its inventory and ensured that the consoles would be made available to my team. We were thrilled to be able to supply Ms. Williams with these fantastic consoles, as the sound quality was impeccable.”

Mead also credits Masque Sound’s customer service and hands-on approach as a big part of the festival’s success. “When I’m looking at these venues, I try to do it with an open mind, envisioning the different equipment that Masque Sound can offer me and seeing if I can make it work. Scott Kalata, from Masque Sound, came down to Charleston and toured all of the venues with me and came up with some suggestions, which was very helpful. The fact that I can call anyone on the team—whether that person is Scott, Gary Stocker or Dennis Short—and quickly be offered equipment advice is a huge benefit. It is really great to be able to rely on them as a resource, and it is very reassuring to know that with their extensive inventory, they can accommodate my needs for an event of this size and scope.”

In total, the festival utilized more than 200 microphones, 100 speakers and 5 digital consoles from some of the audio industry’s top manufacturers, including DiGiCo, Sennheiser, JBL and Meyer, all adding up to an incredibly successful premier performing arts festival.

Hollywood’s backyard film festival is set to run June 11–19, giving local talent a chance to showcase several films that reveal a side of the city far from the red carpet.
The festival has 11 films screening as part of its L.A. Muse program, which focuses on “celebrating Los Angeles filmmakers making work in L.A. and about L.A.,” according to Maggie Mackay, senior programmer of the Los Angeles Film Festival.
L.A. Muse is part of a revamp for the festival’s 20th anniversary this year, which also includes a talent search conducted with Funny or Die.
“It’s very much about building community through the film festival and within the film community itself,” Mackay tells Backstage. “L.A. is a big city. Our goal is to give everybody something and introduce filmmakers to each other and filmmakers to audiences.”
The Muse selections include the feature “Echo Park,” from first-time filmmaker Amanda Marsalis. The comedy stars Mamie Gummer as Sophie, who leaves her seemingly perfect life in Beverly Hills to move to Echo Park, Los Angeles’ hipster enclave.
Danny Glover stars in “Supremacy,” a based-on-a-true-story thriller about a black family taken

With a band motto of “Born in Shadow, Made of Lions, Loud as …” (well, you can guess the last part), Third Eye Blind inspired Schellenger to design a scheme that was shadowy, silhouetted, and de-saturated during their 2013 fall tour (which also included gear from 4Wall).

While creating a concept for the 2014 festival season and its early set times, Schellenger worked with lead singer Stephan Jenkins to come up with new ideas that would match the musical performance while complimenting the vibe of outdoor summer stages.

“We chose to limit our color pallet to only colors found at sunset, such as warm whites, ambers, and oranges,” said Schellenger, “We wanted to match the evening sunset warmth and progress visually onstage as the ambient light did.”

Again taking into account the festival set times, Schellenger knew beams and textures wouldn’t be the right way to light the stage. He instead opted for wash fixtures that featured great faces such as the MAC Aura and new B-Eye K20.

“With the K-20s new to the market, I thought this was a great opportunity to play around with their visual capabilities. Due to our use of a small number of color schemes, I used different effects within the actual light source to keep the show dynamic. The K-20s were great for creating different effects.”

Nexus 4×4 Panels were used as light sculpting set pieces, while Platinum Beams were tasked with showcasing members of the band.

Schellenger also took the opportunity to add in a unique effect to leave those watching the show with a memorable last impression.

“The show ends on a very distinct drum hit. During this moment, I took a one second cue and briefly turned the stage green before fading out, representative of the optical phenomenon that is a green flash at the end of a sunset. Although it lasted for only a second, it was a complex cue with four follow commands. If you blinked, you missed it.”

While Schellenger left a memorable impression on his audience, the team at 4Wall Nashville left an impression on the talented designer.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better prep. The Nashville shop is also located next to our rehearsal space of choice, Soundcheck, which meant I was close enough to grab additional gear as needed while programming. We will continue to turn to the excellent gear and the team at 4Wall.”

Running in tandem with the huge CMA Music Festival from June 5 – 8, lighting console manufacturer Avolites has announced that it is partnering with lighting fixture manufacturer Robe to host a four-day open house at Soundcheck Nashville, the largest rehearsal studio complex in the world under one roof.

There’s still time to enter a theatrical production into the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Just don’t call it a showcase.
“We avoid the word ‘showcase,’ as that is a rather pregnant word in Los Angeles,” said Ben Hill, the festival’s director and founder.
He recalled, with an audible shudder, the bad old days when most plays were honeypots staged in intimate theaters with Spartan production design by actors, with the sole purpose of attracting managers and agents.
“The performing arts in Los Angeles has long since surpassed the ‘showcase’ paradigm,” said Hill. “Now we have people coming and actually trying to create great art for the purpose of the art.”
The purpose of the Fringe isn’t just art for art’s sake. Participating artists get to keep 100 percent of their ticket sales and only pay a $175–$250 registration fee and the reduced space-rental cost to mount their production. Actors, said Hill, also gain valuable producing experience.
“L.A. is replete with actors. We’ve got a crazy amount of actors but for the performing arts to thrive, what we need in Los Angeles are more theatrical producers,” he said.

Moogfest, the annual electronic technology, art, science and music festival celebrating the creative vision of analog synth pioneer Bob Moog, expanded its festivities in downtown Asheville, North Carolina this year to five days in late April and more than 10 venues.

WILLINGEN, Germany — The Spring Harvest Festival drew some more than 3,000 German-speaking Christians for a six-day conference here April 6-11. Along with 12 A360 Personal Mixers in the largest hall, Aviom provided two AN-16/i-M Mic Input Modules, one AN-16/i v.2 Input Module, one AN-16/o v.4 Output Module, one D800 A-Net Distributor, and one A-16D Pro A-Net Distributor to support the event.

This year’s German SPRING Harvest Festival brought together more than 3,000 evangelical Christians from Europe’s German-speaking community for a six-day event featuring more than 300 artists, speakers, and volunteers. One of the largest Christian festivals in Europe, SPRING was founded in 1998 and is supported by the German Evangelical Alliance.

Since 2004, Gaetan Roy, the director of the Worship Academy in Altensteig, Germany, has served as Director of Arts for SPRING, and in that time he and his band have led worship eight times at the festival. Roy and his band first used an Aviom personal mixing system at the 2008 festival, and this year the band incorporated Aviom’s A360 Personal Mixers for the first time. As an official sponsor of SPRING, Aviom provided 12 A360 Personal Mixers in the largest hall, along with two AN-16/i-M Mic Input Modules, one AN-16/i v.2 Input Module, one AN-16/o v.4 Output Module, one D800 A-Net Distributor, and one A-16D Pro A-Net Distributor. The combination of the D800 and the AN-16/o v.4 allows for eight musicians to use Network Mix Back, which sends the stereo mix output of each A360 connected to the D800 to wireless in-ear monitor transmitters so that performers can use wireless in-ear monitors and all of the cabling can be elegantly kept off stage.

The Worship Academy and Roy’s band have been using Aviom personal mixers since 2007 for tours, worship nights, band seminars, and national conferences. Roy credits the Aviom system with having “improved our musical experience as performers” and says the system “helps us play tighter as we hear ourselves at a level not possible with traditional monitoring where signals compete with each other in a single mono signal source.” Using the Aviom system has also helped the band manage the unhealthy stage levels that can come with having twelve musicians on stage and that can bleed into the sanctuary. “Sound engineers compliment us on the ease of creating a cleaner mix. Feedback potential is almost completely eliminated and musicians are thankful to have a mix that fits their expectations instead of having to share a compromise with someone else,” explains Roy.

With the upgrade to the A360 Personal Mixers, the SPRING Festival decided to forgo using a monitor mixing console and a monitor engineer, resulting in some cost savings for the event. The musicians also appreciated a superior monitor mix. The combination of per channel reverb and tone on the A360 Personal Mixers help to create a more “live” sounding mix. Roy says, “The improved sound definition that the A360 offers over the A-16II greatly enhances the clarity of our mix and sets a new standard in the industry.”

The band also likes having the One-Touch Ambience feature of the A360, which gives them a stereo ambience channel. According to Roy, “We now feel more connected to the singing congregation, an issue which is important in leading worship and which allows us to serve better by being more sensitive to where the church is going in the song.”

When Roy and his band are using the Aviom A360s at the Worship Academy, they also take advantage of the ability to easily share the units with the various bands at the Academy. Musicians can save their mixes and settings to a USB drive and then immediately retrieve their mixes from the last rehearsal or show when they return to the A360 by plugging the USB in again. No matter how many other musicians may have used the same A360, musicians can revert back to their mix quickly and easily.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The Melodifestivalen (Melody Festival) determines Sweden’s entrant in Europe’s annual Eurovision Song Contest. The 2014 event went from four semifinals in February to a “second chance” round on March 1. The final competition was staged in Stockholm on March 8. LD Fredrik Jönsson’s rig included 131 Clay Paky Sharpys, 26 Sharpy Wash 330s and 14 Alpha Profile 1500s. Starlight provided the gear.

Jönsson’s objective was to create a high-spec touring lighting design that captured the imaginations of the contest’s live and at-home audiences.

“The brief for the show was to create a visually stunning environment for the performance of the 32 songs,” explains Jönsson. “I went for a ‘Metal meets Eurovision’ look with an old-school ‘ACL-look’ lighting rig but with ultramodern technology. My first inspiration for the look of the rig was actually an old Def Leppard logo since the first drafts of the stage and set reminded me of the angular writing style.

“The real challenge was to create a 360 degree environment with sufficient key and backlight for the cameras as well as big lighting effects that were different for all the 32 entries, six openings and eight intermission acts,” explains Jönsson. “The Sharpys for the touring kit were all rigged in ‘ACL-groups’ of four units scattered over and around the stage to form the backbone of the effects we needed. They are a great fixture to work alongside video and for the show they cut through our custom made LED screens without a problem. The Sharpy Washes were rigged in a similar matter, but further apart to provide sufficient wash-light and blinder effects.”

It was Clay Paky’s Sharpy Wash 330 fixture that caught the attention of Jönsson, “I really like the Sharpy Wash 330. It has an output that is mind-blowing and produces wonderful colors. I also like the look of it when you see it in the rig due to its Fresnel lens – it is physically a really nice piece of equipment.”

The Sharpy Wash 330 gets its name from its 330W output and, like its brother the Sharpy, is lightweight (18.5kg) with a startlingly low power draw. The Sharpy Wash has an adjustable beam angle from 6.5º to 48º with a CMY colour system and rotating beam shaper making it a perfect effects wash light.

“Their size compared to the output and versatility is impressive,” finishes Jönsson. “You get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of weight and power consumption.”

The Melodifestivalen tour has recently come to an end with Swedish singer Sanna Nielsen winning the much-coveted position to represent Sweden in Eurovision 2014 with her song ‘Undo’.